ତୋରାଣି ଭାତ କାଞ୍ଜି || Torani rice kanji | Traditional Odia Cuisine | Chef's Street| Chadakhai Special

Kanji (କାଞ୍ଜି) is a fermented rice water based dish traditionally and originally prepared in Southern Odisha . Depending on how it is prepared, it is eaten as soup, curry and porridge. It is one of the dishes of Chhapan Bhog (56 food items also known as Mahaprasad) offered to Lord Jagannath of Puri as part of the last meal of the day (known as Badaw Singhara Bhogaw). During the Odia festival of Kanji Anla Osha, kanji is offered to Goddesses Sathi. (Ref: Wikipedia)

Made only at home, this dish is prepared well in advance where water is discarded after boiling rice, collected and stored in earthen pot over few days. It is allowed to ferment till a sour taste is developed. Thereafter this fermented liquid is heated, cooled and diluted with some of previous day’s rice water mixed with some fresh rice water.

The main ingredient involved in making this dish are torani (ତୋରାଣି) also known as "peja torani" (ପେଜ ତୋରାଣି) which is the rice water extracted after boiling rice. The extracted rice water is usually left for few days to ferment until it develops sour flavors. Optionally a piece of Ambula (ଆମ୍ବୁଲ) can be added to it. During the fermentation process, fresh rice water is added everyday to the base rice water. Once it starts to give off a sour aroma, it's ready to be cooked to make Torani kanji. To prepare the kanji, vegetables such as pumpkin radish, broad beans, okra, drumsticks, or any locally grown vegetables are cut and boiled in the kanji along with some water. Turmeric powder and salt is added as per taste. Optionally 1-2 pieces of ambula (pickled green mangos) can be added to make it sour if the rice water was not sour enough. Once all the vegetables are boiled and the kanji thickens, it is removed from the heat and chunkaw (spluttering) is added to it. To prepare chunkaw, heat mustard oiland add pancha phoran, curry leaves, garlic, dry red chillies, green chillies and roast it for some time. Once the color starts to change remove from heat. This variation of kanji is particularly popular in Southern Odisha. A littled bit of dried mango or mango powder added to it renders it a mild sour taste. It should be taken more for its nutritional value than taste.

This traditional dish has some curative value in our diet. As it is easy on the stomach, it can act like an antacid and regular intake can help remove gastritis problems. More than any of its other properties, it a wonderful appetizer that aids in smooth digestion. But the cooling property of this liquid dish that helps induce good sleep is what Odias love it for!

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